2014 Latin Salutatory Oration, English translation

Posted June 3, 2014; 12:45 p.m.

by the Office of Communications

Given in the Academic Assembly of Princeton
On the Third of June
In the Year 2014
In the 267th Academic Year

Having journeyed through many years and many lectures, we arrive, friends, for these joyous ceremonial rites, so that I might present you with the first offering of the morning and speak (in vain) to my silent classmates. But be silent no longer, for we have reached the well-deserved end of our travels — greetings great Class of 2014, congratulations!

First I greet you, President Eisgruber, new and wonderful leader of this University. Although our paths at Princeton have intersected for only a brief moment, nevertheless I believe that we have each been greatly enriched by our encounter with the other. Next I bid welcome to our distinguished trustees, who steer the helm of our ship through waters rough and smooth. Then I greet you, wise professors, who have educated us in the ways of the book and the ways of the world. And finally I welcome you, dear mothers and fathers, who have cultivated us from young shoots. Thank you for entrusting us to this nourishing mother for the final stage of our growth into adulthood.

We have shared many experiences over these past four years, from fires celebrating our victories in the battles of the game of feet, to an inflammation of the meninges from which we were saved by gifts born across the sea. But most of all we will remember the bonds we have made with each other. And though our time here as students has come to a close, we will reunite year after year as a retinue of maenads and satyrs.